When water warms, it holds less oxygen, and this can harm aquatic life and degrade water quality. A new study finds that climate change is driving oxygen loss in hundreds of US and European rivers.
Satellite photo of an algal bloom in western Lake Erie, July 28, 2015.
NASA Earth Observatory
Donald Boesch, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Donald Scavia, University of Michigan
Nutrient pollution fouls lakes and bays with algae, killing fish and threatening public health. Progress curbing it has been slow, mainly because of farm pollution.
Seabed sediments in Bermuda mangroves consumed nitrous oxide from the seawater. Restoring coastal ecosystems might help curb climate change.
(Shutterstock)
Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas, 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Global emissions of N2O are on the rise as a result of human activities — and their impact on ocean ecosystems.
Paul and Becky Rogers converted 14 acres of land in Kent County, Mich. to habitat that supports pollinators, songbirds and wildlife.
USDA/Flickr
New research shows that one-third of yearly nitrogen runoff from Midwest farms to the Gulf of Mexico occurs during a few heavy rainstorms. New fertilizing schedules could reduce nitrogen pollution.
Tourists observe the shore chock full of sargassum in Bahia La Media Luna, near Akumal in Quintana Roo, Mexico, in August 2018.
(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Scientists are predicting major algae blooms in Lake Erie and large dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico this summer. Nutrient pollution from industrial corn farming is a major driver.
Applying nitrogen fertilizer to corn at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, a research site in Michigan.
NSF
Fertilizer is a key source of nitrogen pollution which fouls air and water worldwide. Current regulations target farmers, but focusing on producers could spur them to develop greener products.
Blooms of algae, like this growth in 2015 in Lake St. Clair between Michigan and Ontario, promote the formation of dead zones.
NASA Earth Observatory
Scientists have mapped a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Oman, without enough oxygen in the water to support life. This Speed Read explains why dead zones form in waters around the world.
Harmful algae bloom in Lake Erie, Oct. 13, 2011.
NASA Earth Observatory
Nitrogen and phosphorus are polluting US waters, creating algae blooms and dead zones. New research confirms that voluntary steps are failing in the Gulf of Mexico and unlikely to work in Lake Erie.
Harmful algal bloom caused by nutrient pollution, Assateague island National Seashore, MD.
Eric Vance, U.S. EPA/Flickr
Excess nutrients from farm fields cause widespread water pollution across the U.S. Bioreactors – essentially, ditches filled with wood chips – are emerging as a way to reduce nutrient pollution.
The same conditions – ultimately tied to nutrient runoff – that created the damaging toxic blooms and dead zones in US waterways of recent years are forecast to return this year.